DIY Garden – Wood Burned Vegetable Markers

Craft these Markers and See How your Garden Grows!

It’s spring. Time to get started if you are planning to grow your own vegetables this summer. This year, we built a raised garden bed because the soil in our area is compacted sand and clay. You can do it too!

When you make a raised bed, you choose the soil that goes in, so there is no bad dirt, and no tilling the ground. A combination of compost, soil and manure mixed up will make a fantastic place for your food to grow. All of these are easily found at your local home improvement store. You can also purchase raised bed kits, for added convenience. (Or DIY one, like Stef did with an old truck bed – click here to check it out)

We went the extra step this year and ordered organic, 100% heirloom, non genetically modified (non-GMO), seeds. Surprisingly, they didn’t cost more than seeds readily available because I purchased them on sale for 99 cents a pack.

Organic spinach for our smoothies practically puts us in the poor house in the warmer weather. So, why not grow our own? The goal with our garden, is to walk outside with a big empty bowl, and fill it with ingredients for a delicious, organic salad. Seriously, what’s better than a warm, sun-ripened, juicy, home-grown tomato?

The seeds have been started, and are germinating in a mini, make-shift-greenhouse. Every morning, I peek inside, hoping to spot some bright green sprouts. While I am patiently waiting for the little plants to grow, I got busy making wooden spoon vegetable garden markers. We had an abundance of wooden spoons, and I was able to pick a few up at the thrift shop for next to nothing.

Tip: Wood burning kits can be bought at any craft supply shop. They run approximately $15. (Often, you can pull out your smart phone at the register to retrieve an online coupon, usually saving 40-50% off, making this a super-thrifty craft.)

Directions:

1. To start, I wrote the name of the veggie along the top, in pencil. Next, I did an image search of the particular vegetable, and drew a sketch, in the center of the spoon. If you are uncomfortable with your drawing ability, an easy way to transfer an image onto your spoon is as follows:

A. Print an appropriately sized photograph, or free clip art of your desired design.B. Color the back of the copy with pencil. C. Place the copy face-up on the spoon, then trace along the lines.

2. Once the drawings are transferred onto the wood, it’s time to get the hang of the wood burning tool and trace the words and drawings. Then you can erase all of your pencil lines for clean, crisp look.

It took a bit of trial and error with the burner because this was my first time using one. Initially, I tried (and failed) to draw and write with the tapered, pointy tip. Once I moved on to what is called the “flow tip”, which is rounded at the top, I was able to glide around curves much better.

Safety Tip: Read wood-burner instructions before diving in. I used the hottest setting to achieve a dark line. It smells like a campfire! Any mistakes can be removed with sandpaper.

3. During my online research, I learned a bit of trivia about each type of seed. It was fascinating, discovering that Nobel Giant Spinach was introduced in 1926, or, that Fava Beans also go by the name Broad Bean. These interesting tidbits worked their way into my design.

4. It seemed the vegetable drawings could really pop with a touch of color. Crayon, grease pencil, and colored pencils added a bit more liveliness to the garden markers.

5. Now, they can be placed in the raised bed, informing us what plants to expect in which space.

These DIY Vegetable Markers add a quirky, decorative touch to your summer garden. Which, surely, will be a conversation piece when you are entertaining your friends – imagine serving up a freshly picked salad for your lucky guests!

Rachel is a stay-at-home Mom that never seems to be home. She’s a military wife, mother to The Danger Boys and a self-proclaimed craftaholic that enjoys photography, knitting, baking and all things handmade.

12 Comments

You are one amazing lady @rachelshay! This is one of my favorite DIYs yet. The images and colors on the re-purposed spoons are so cute – and I just love the idea. What a fab way to mark your veggies spaces while you wait for them to spring from the ground! Can’t wait for the tutorial on the hand-stamped cutlery!Tyna recently posted..Quinoa Stuffed Peppers recipe

Totally cute, and I’m a pretty crafty girl so I’m sure I could do this. Now, if only I could grow something other than a weed or an incredibly hearty cactus. I have a withered, crispy, yellow-brown thumb.

What a great DIY!! I am always needing garden markers for my herbs. But I am so lazy or busy, not sure which it is! But now that school is coming to an end for me this sounds like a great project to start with. Yay!!

Super cute and way, way better than what we do for our markers @rachelshay!! I use old pop sticks or wooden coffee and they are not cute, at all! Glad to know a fellow gardener! It has become a huge part of our lives since we decided to live a healthier lifestyle.

@rachelshay, I’m so late with my comment–forgive me! I was crazy busy on the day I first saw these, so I have Post-It notes all over my house to respond to this. These are PURE GENIUS! I love them. I’m going to try it, as we always just use the labels which come with the plants. I have an attachment to wooden spoons in general (don’t even ask), and this makes it all the more delightful! Now I can take down my notes.

So cute! But I have a weird thing about wet wood, so the idea of actually using these in a garden kinda freaks me out. I can’t wait to see the hand stamped tutorial, I totally want to do that for my garden (and my kazillion different varieties of veggies) this year!